Ezra in Advent

The Narrative Lectionary reading for this week is: Ezra 1:1-4; 3:1-4, 10-13

These thoughts were written for the 10W podcast for the week of 12/13. Please find this podcast here. 

          In this space, those of us who record this podcast usually offer a very short homily- some theological thoughts. I beg your indulgence to let me offer some personal thoughts this time. The book of Ezra is very difficult for me to read in one short bit, as in today’s reading.

            It is a deeply emotional and theological book. The beginning of the book details the return from the exile of the people of Judah. This return, however, is one of deeply mixed emotions. There are people who were left behind in Jerusalem who do not know those who are returning. There are Jews who remained in Babylon, not remembering or having a relationship with Judah- the land or the people. There are non-Jews, Gentiles, who now also reside in Jerusalem or who have taken ownership and care of the land itself.

            The first temple, built under Solomon, was built with conscripted Israelite labor. That conscription- slavery itself- led to deep divisions within the land. The second temple, now, will be built with permission and supplies via a decree from King Cyrus. While Ezra and parts of Isaiah acknowledge Cyrus as a servant of God’s will, whether or not Cyrus knew it, this still means the Holy of Holies has a mixed history at the hands of people.

            Finally, the book of Ezra will end with the men of the prophetic class (and perhaps others) being required to set aside their foreign wives and the children they have for their wives. Perceived to be a threat to the religious purity of the land and the people, these women and children are, presumably, sent back whence they came. Despite the guidance of the law to care for widows, orphans, and strangers- regardless of their origin- Ezra holds up the ideal of internal purity of a people as a commendable goal.

            The weight of awareness of privilege- Western privilege, white privilege, cis-gendered privilege, straight privilege, and even the advantages that I haven’t fully comprehended- the awareness of these things compels me to say this: Group homogeneity, or sameness, disguised as ‘purity’ is not a spiritual goal given by God.  When we make an idol of a time when “we” were all the same, allegedly great, we are willfully ignoring the work of God’s hands creating difference and drawing together into community. We are willfully refusing to see the others in the land, in the city, in our neighborhood, in our family, as a child of God. We are willfully choosing not to see Christ in the person right next to us.

            Perceiving the Messiah in the stranger is not a reality within the community in Ezra’s time. We should not read shame backwards onto that group for that failure. Instead, in the burgeoning labor of the Advent season, as we wait to celebrate Christ’s light at hand, we should read shame forward in that we- fellow humans with Ezra’s community- are still often too ready to shut out strangers. This unwelcome often goes by the names: safety, security, greatness, borders, danger, different.

            When I think of reading Ezra in Advent, I think about this: in two weeks’ time, we will read of an unmarried couple, whispered about in their community, seeking to fulfill the demands of the law. The place where they are legally required to file paperwork is full of outsiders. Even though there are many related to them by blood, faith, or other ties, they end up in the spare space that belongs to generous strangers. That night, the woman undergoes the most dangerous thing that would happen in her life: she gives birth. Strange men come to see her and talk about night visions in the sky. Stranger men come from further away, later, and tell her of the danger to her and her baby. Her partner has also perceived this danger and they flee. They flee to a place that had enslaved their ancestors, but there they find safety.

            This is the story of the holy family. Our Advent prayer must be for God to birth in us the welcome and openness of the shepherds, the magi, and the Egyptian community. And for God to let die in us the fear of the other, the urge toward purity through shutting out others, and the hesitation to welcome difference in our communities. Amen.

Wisdom

This week’s narrative reading is: Ecclesiastes 1:1-11; 3:1-17

1:1 The words of the Teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. 3 What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun? 4 A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun rises and the sun goes down, and hurries to the place where it rises. 6 The wind blows to the south, and goes around to the north; round and round goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. 7 All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they continue to flow. 8 All things are wearisome; more than one can express; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, or the ear filled with hearing. 9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there a thing of which it is said, "See, this is new"? It has already been, in the ages before us. 11 The people of long ago are not remembered, nor will there be any remembrance of people yet to come by those who come after them.

3:1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; 7 a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. 9 What gain have the workers from their toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. 11 He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; 13 moreover, it is God's gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. 14 I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him. 15 That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is; and God seeks out what has gone by. 16 Moreover I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, wickedness was there, and in the place of righteousness, wickedness was there as well. 17 I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for he has appointed a time for every matter, and for every work.

Some thoughts on the Scripture lesson:

Oh, Qohelet! Oh, Teacher of Ecclesiastes. You say what we don’t want to hear. You point to the folly of our expectation that we are different (and, hence, better) than any people who have come before. Your words reveal to us that our children and our children’s children will marvel at what we did not know, but they will not perceive that which they do not yet comprehend. Your words, inspired by the Spirit, are of God and yet we do not wish to hear them.

Oh, Qohelet! Oh, Teacher of Ecclesiastes! Would that we would heed your wisdom. Would that we should learn that God’s plan for our hope and future is intertwined with that of our neighbors. Would that we would hear and comprehend the truth that God’s vocational plan for us involves finding joy in work and peace in recreation. Would that we would realize that God’s plan for the earth may diverge from what our minds could conceive and that we might listen and hear.

Oh, Qohelet! Oh, Teacher of Ecclesiastes! The times of all things are held in the innermost being of our God, yet we believe that we make these things happen. The bringing of redemption pours forth from the very nature of the Lord, yet we think that it depends on us. The shaping and sanctifying of all things comes from the work of the Spirit, yet we think our creativity and our designs are the pinnacle of creation.

Oh, Qohelet! Oh, Teacher of Ecclesiastes! Help us to perceive the height and depth of the love of God. Reveal to us the wisdom and folly of being human. Help us to find joy in work and play and to give all the glory to our Creator. Remind us that our very lives are part of God’s own plan and work and that all that we are and have is but dust in the light of eternity, yet we are blessed.

Oh, Qohelet! Oh, Teacher of Ecclesiastes! We thank you for your wisdom and we ask God for the grace to perceive it.

What Do We Learn from Proverbs?

This week’s narrative reading is: Proverbs 8:1-11, 22-36

1 Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice? 2 On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand; 3 beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries out: 4 "To you, O people, I call, and my cry is to all that live. 5 O simple ones, learn prudence; acquire intelligence, you who lack it. 6 Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right; 7 for my mouth will utter truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips. 8 All the words of my mouth are righteous; there is nothing twisted or crooked in them. 9 They are all straight to one who understands and right to those who find knowledge. 10 Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold; 11 for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.

22 The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago. 23 Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. 24 When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. 25 Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth— 26 when he had not yet made earth and fields, or the world's first bits of soil. 27 When he established the heavens, I was there, when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, 28 when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, 29 when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, 30 then I was beside him, like a master worker; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, 31 rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race. 32 "And now, my children, listen to me: happy are those who keep my ways. 33 Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. 34 Happy is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. 35 For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord; 36 but those who miss me injure themselves; all who hate me love death."

Some thoughts on the Scripture lesson:

We don’t give too much thought to wisdom these days. The majority of western culture values what we call “street smarts”- ability to move quickly, decisively, and based on cultural expectations. That last one is the biggest difference between the behavior that is valued by the world, so to speak, and the behavior that comes from wisdom.

Wisdom, having witnessed God’s shaping of creation, knows what lasts and what does not. Wisdom, having witnessed God’s grief over creation, knows the value in relationships, when to speak the truth, and how to live in love, even in times of disagreement. Wisdom, having witnessed God’s sacrifices for creation, is willing to imitate Christ in self-giving and hope for the sake of others.

St. Augustine is often quoted as having prayed, “Lord, give me chastity and continence, but not yet.” Modern disciples might have the same thought about wisdom. We want it, but not just yet. Not when it might mean speaking up against injustice, articulating a less-popular opinion, standing with our enemies for their safety, or witnessing for Christ in word and deed. All of these things seem wise and desirable, but not yet.

Woman Wisdom, though, in Proverbs warns against those who refuse to let her enter. When the chance to welcome wisdom is missed, it is considered equivalent to loving death. Joy, lasting happiness, is what comes from welcoming wisdom now, learning her lessons, and asking God for the courage and strength to live them.

Wisdom might not always be our favorite houseguest or bring the most fun with her. However, she brings life and integrity in her luggage. So we must work to invite her in and welcome her to stay.

Reflections on the Lord's Prayer

Matthew 6:7-21 

God of all people and places, you dwell in heaven and you walk with your creation.

Your name is holy. Your deeds are amazing.

Your name is the source of all hope, joy, and consolation.

Your name is holy. Your deeds are amazing.

Your ultimate reign is that for which we dare to long.

Your name is holy. Your deeds are amazing.

Grant us what we need for today and the courage to share it with others.

Your name is holy. Your deeds are amazing.

Dissolve the guilt and shame of our sins in forgiveness and strengthen us to do the same for others.

Your name is holy. Your deeds are amazing.

Do not allow us to be waylaid by the forces that oppose you.

Your name is holy. Your deeds are amazing.

At the end of all things, draw us to yourself through Christ.

Your name is holy. Your deeds are amazing.

People like solutions. There is hardly anything more aggravating than not being able to fix something or know an answer. In this room, right now, with the human knowledge plus the technological benefit of smart phones- there are many questions that could be answered, many problems that could be solved. Facts and figures and history and science- at our fingertips, in our minds, remembered and recorded

Prayer seems like it should have a solution, or at least more facts and more tangibility. So much depends, we think, on being able to do it correctly, on solving the prayer problem, that we hardly notice when we’re praying all the time. We focus on the “how” and we forget the “who”.

            Jesus teaches disciples to pray, in Matthew’s gospel, by beginning, “Our Father in heaven, holy is your name.” God’s name is holy because it is the name upon which we can call for all things- for healing, in distress, in joy, for hope, for help. We begin by calling on the name of God because we can ask things of this name (and in this name) that cannot come from anyone or anything else.

            Yet, when people tell me they have a hard time praying, often they are concerned about “getting it wrong”. We want to have all our ducks in a row because, surely, if we pray in the right way, we will receive the thing for which we are asking. And that, right there, is the tough mystery of prayer. The part we want to solve. It is hard accept that a God who has made us, who has lived as one of us, and who sighs with us in prayer is present and at work in all things, even when our experience is bleak and dark.

            If things are improving (in the way we expect), then God must not be listening (so we think) and if God is not listening (according to us), then we must be doing it wrong (it stands to reason). We are able to do so much, so quickly now and to know so many things… waiting with mystery is hard. What is hard is uncomfortable and what is uncomfortable is to be avoided. No one ever says, “Let’s go to the park with the hard benches! I love how uncomfortable we are there.”

            Part of living in faith, in trusting God, is learning to be consoled by the mystery of God’s relationship to God’s ownself (as Father, Son, and Spirit) and the mystery of God’s relationship to us- as we experience it through prayer- our prayers with words and our prayers with actions. God is bigger than our knowledge, than our imaginations, than our dreams. We cannot solve the mystery of God. That actually is good news. A puzzle has a solution. A riddle has an answer. But God, God is forever- and we live and rest, not through our own doing, in that eternity- even when we do not understand it.

Reflections on the Beatitudes

If I could ask Jesus a question or two about Matthew 5, my first question would be this: What do you mean “blessed are”? Does it mean that mourning is a blessed state that is to be pursued? Does it mean that we find a sense of blessing or a tangible blessing when mourning happens in our lives, but we don’t need to seek it out? Is mourning a basic reality of a faithful life and so we will receive the blessings that inherent in that life, through mourning and these other realities?

This passage seems confusing to most of us. It seems like a good one to hear on All Saints’ Day or at a funeral, when we can attribute the blessings to those faithful who have died and now rest in light. They have inherited and surely now they are blessed. As for the rest of us, we just muddle about as best we can.

How, then, do we sort out the bits about salt and light? Or that part about the law?

When Matthew, the author of this gospel, wrote, he was organizing the teachings and works of Jesus for a Christian community of Jews and Gentiles, people gathered in hope for the kingdom of God at hand. Matthew knows that the spread of the gospel, the very reality of God’s relationship with creation, depends in large part on this early community understanding what is at stake for them in following Christ.

They cannot take for granted that it will be easy or that they will not suffer. The struggle itself is not what brings blessing. There is an inherent state of blessedness, of inner joy and peace, that comes from knowing that the kingdom is at hand and that God has chosen to use you as part of how it comes about. Participating in God’s work- seasoning a community with faithful, loving action that points to the Light that does not fail gives shape to discipleship.

This cannot be achieved through personal, private inward religious or spiritual thought. It is a truth born out in sweat, tears, blood, water, and wine. For the early Christians, it was only when they gave themselves fully and knew that God fully using all that they had… it was then that they perceived the truth of this great sermon that there is blessing enough in being a child of God and knowing that alone is constant and unfailing.

It is the same for Christians today.             

Be Blessed

The Lord is with us in our grief,

God has brought us too far to leave us now.

The Lord is with us in times of trouble,

God has brought us too far to leave us now.

The Lord is with us in our hunger for mercy and our pursuit of justice,

God has brought us too far to leave us now.

The Lord is with us in time of humility and humbling.

God has brought us too far to leave us now.

The Lord is with us in the depth of righteous anger.

God has brought us too far to leave us now.

The Lord is with us in the height of peacemaking and reconciliation.

God has brought us too far to leave us now.

We are the salt God uses to season creation and the lamps through which God’s own light shines.

God has brought us too far to leave us now.

Be a Boaz

Reading: Ruth 3

Commentary: What’s happening in this passage? Ruth has pledged her support to Naomi, followed her back to Israel, and been responsible for taking care of them. Naomi has the connections in this place, her hometown. If she can find a righteous man to marry Ruth, Naomi will have the grandchildren for whom she has longed and she will know that Ruth will be taken care of as a wife. It will have to be just the right man for Ruth- because he will have to recognize the risks and efforts she has made with Naomi. He will also have to be willing to give Ruth children who will also be understood to be in the line of her dead husband. (Otherwise the grandchildren wouldn’t really be Naomi’s.)

            Boaz is just such a man. He has seen Ruth’s care for Naomi. In the verses we just heard, Boaz acknowledges Ruth’s forethought and risk-taking. As a widow, Ruth could have chosen a different husband, possibly even a younger man. However, she honors Naomi and Naomi’s needs and goes to lie with a man who can provide for them. Boaz has already shown a willingness to do that.

            Boaz is honored by Ruth’s actions and rewards them. He will make every effort to get someone to care for her and Naomi. He is also careful to be sure that Ruth’s reputation is protected. It is certainly arguable that Ruth is a little bit mercenary and Boaz is not turning away a pretty young thing that shows up in his bedroll. Be that as it may, the upshot of this passage is that righteousness and faithful action are rewarded by God and by people.

            Of course, it doesn’t always seem like that’s the case. We certainly know many situations wherein it seems that evil is rewarded, that other people are a means for getting ahead, and that no one is willing to speak out for the widows, orphans, travelers, the unemployed, or the hungry. Isn’t anyone willing to be the Boaz to these people, to stand up, support, lift up, encourage, and redeem for life?

            We understand salvation to have been achieved for all creation through Jesus. There is still on-going work- the spreading of that news, the building of God’s kin-dom, and the reconciliation of creation with the knowledge of God. In our culture, it is all too often that people who are in tight spots are not given the extra boost they need. Boaz does not tell Ruth that things will work out if she just keeps trying. He doesn’t take advantage of her vulnerability and then send her away. He doesn’t push off her request until he had more time.

            As Naomi says, he does not rest until things are made right for Ruth (and for Naomi). We are also called to be “redeeming kinsmen”, to be the one who supports our brothers and sisters. We are to press on for the cause of our family, the family of God, and not to rest until all understand who has spoken for them, who has claimed them, and in whose hands their future rests. God's. 

Hear a short worship service, including this commentary, here: 

Find this worship service every week here: http://10worship.blogspot.com

            

Humble Thyself (Sermon)

Philippians 2:1-13

            A few weeks ago, I watched a great local production of the play Charlotte’s Web, put on by TBA. The play, based on the book, is about a little pig named Wilbur whose bacon is saved by Charlotte, a spider, who spins words in her web that describe Wilbur. Coming up with the words requires some help from other animals.

            When Wilbur has been carted off to the fair, because he’s not just some pig, Charlotte and Templeton the rat go with him. Charlotte tasks Templeton with finding piece of paper with a good word on it that she can use as inspiration. Templeton comes back with a paper scrap that he asserts has a great word, “Humblé”. (“Hoom-blay”- like it’s French.)

            Charlotte rolls her eyes, “The word is humble!” There is a big audience laugh at that moment. Humblé sounds like the categorical opposite of what we understand “humble” to mean. In particular, we do not have a great cultural love of humbleness (or its partner, humility). When humble is used to mean “subservient” or “insignificant”, no one wants to sign up for that. When people say, “In my humble opinion”- they usually mean, “I definitely know what I’m talking about and if you had any sense, you’d listen to me.” On the whole, people would rather be humblé, even though it’s not a real word, than be humble.

            Thus, we come to today’s reading in Philippians and we read about Jesus being willing to humble himself. Was Jesus insignificant? Was he demeaned or low in status? Yes, he was friends with many who were on the lower rungs of society. He was from Nazareth, a bit of a backwater. However, Paul is referring to Jesus’ humbleness, his humility, in that he did not exploit the power that was within him (equality with God) while he was walking among us. He healed, he multiplied food, he raised people from the dead- but he didn’t smite, he didn’t heal for status gain, he taught so that minds and hearts would yield to embrace of mercy.

            Jesus had the skills and the opportunity to be humblé, whatever that would mean, but he did not seize them. He, instead, was humbled- modest and unpretentious- to be God- enfleshed- in the flesh, walking among us. And what was in his mind? Love for creation, a desire for reconciliation, hope for God’s people, knowledge of God’s faithfulness- this is the same mindset that Paul calls for the Philippians to have in themselves. It is the mindset that we are called to have as well.

            Too often, we as a church (and as people) are more about being humblé than humble. More time spent worrying about the building, about finances, about who does what and gets credit for it… all of this is humblé. We no longer live in a culture where we can be certain that people know who Jesus is, where church has a priority in people’s lives, where a relationship with God and God’s people is more common than not. Since this is the case, since the good news of Jesus needs to be spread far and wide, there is not the time or the room for humblé.

            Paul writes to the Philippians, “If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” When he says, “If then there is…”, it is not actually an argument to say, “If these things exist…” It sounds that way in English, but Paul’s argument is actually more along the lines of “Since we have encouragement, consolation, love, compassion, and sympathy in and out of our relationship with God… let us have the same mind together.”

            Having the same mind does not mean that the Philippians, or any other Christians will agree on everything. Having the same mind means a kind of lifting up and privileging the care of one another. It means having a deep consideration for the feelings and experiences of one another. It means setting aside all that is humblé and being willing to be humbled by caring for one another.

            If we do this for each other, within the church, it will easily become our habit. Habits carry over beyond specific spaces. Our church habits can become our home habits and then our out-in-public habits. In consistently praying for and seeking to have the same mind with Christ Jesus, and then having that mindset together as a family in Christ, all traces of humblé will fad away- self-importance, frustration, superiority, disdain. Humbleness becomes the perfume of our lives, the song of our hearts, the tint through which our eyes see the world.

            Humbleness is not about being a doormat or groveling or do anything and everything for anyone and everyone. It is about working out, coming to a deeper and broader understanding, of our salvation- of what God has done and called us to in Jesus Christ. To know what and how we have been forgiven, to consider that we are daily gifted with help for faith and service, to trust that we are never alone… if that doesn’t cause you to tremble, tremble, tremble, what will?

            We are humbled by stepping out into the world on the faith that the One who knows us best, loves us most. That’s humbling. When we are at work with one another, when service busies our hands and prayer consumes our lips, as we work toward having the mind of Christ individually and together… as humbleness takes deeper root- it’s not that there’s no room to be humblé. It is that it is no longer necessary.

Amen.

Undisposed (Sermon, Easter 4)

Acts 16:16-34

This story has an enslaved young woman in it. What’s her name? Why doesn’t she have a name?

What does Paul do to her? (Cast out the spirit of divination)

Why does he do it? (Because he is annoyed)

What happens to the girl? (She is no longer useful as a commodity for her owners. She is not free; she is now considered worthless.)

Does she matter?

If we keep reading, we go on to Paul and Silas praising God in prison. Their impromptu hymn sing and prayers intrigues the other prisoners and leads the jailer, himself an enforcer of Roman laws, to seeking salvation.

But what happens to the girl?

You may think it does not matter. She served her purpose in the story- moving the plot forward to get to the imprisonment part. That’s all we need to know about her. She’s not a Roman citizen. She’s probably not even a follower of the Way of Jesus, even though she is able to recognize that Paul and Silas are. Even though the story of Lydia, a woman who comes to the Way with her whole household, is what immediately precedes this story in Acts… this slave girl, enslaved young woman, is not to become Lydia’s sister in the faith. At least, not so we know about it.

This matters because she is treated as disposable to the story. She has a function and when her function is complete, she is gone. Even for Paul’s purposes, he does not heal her or speak the story of Christ to her. He just wants her to stop annoying him. For even Paul, she is inconvenient and unnecessary- disposable.

While we may never know what happened to her, it is important to register a sense of injustice and even outrage at the idea of a person as disposable. When other people become means to an end, we stop seeing them as people. When they are no longer people, we know longer acknowledge Christ in them and the work of the Spirit in their lives. They become nameless, then faceless, and then… gone. Disposable.

On April 14^th, 276 Nigerian girls were kidnapped from a high school in Chibok, Nigeria. A radical group that opposes education, particularly “Western education”, for girls kidnapped them. Some of the girls have escaped back to their families, but most remain missing. The leader of the kidnappers has said that they intend to sell most of the girls off to be married, but they can be ransomed for $12 a piece. On May 1^st, the president of Nigeria vowed to do all he could to get the girls back.

This story did not become international news until nearly 3 weeks after it occurred. Why not? Is it because these girls are the wrong color, wrong nationality, have no money? Do we care that some of these girls may be made mothers against their will on this very day? Countries that poured significant resources into searching for the missing Malaysian airplane, into training and transport for the Olympics, into oil and gas exploration have not yet offered that kind of money to find these girls.

Are their lives disposable? Is what happens to them regrettable, but simply a cost of the way the world is? We live in a world where many countries have a surplus of men because female babies are less desirable and are eliminated. In order for the men to have wives, girls are kidnapped. Because girls are not desirable, women who bear girls are often considered failures. This happens even in our own country. Even certain “Christian” sects value the lives of women less than lives of men. Women are disposable- less valuable to men and so perceived to be less valuable to God.

What can we do? Let’s do a little biblical imagining here. What happened to the slave girl?

(My imagining: Her employers beat her and cast her out without references. They will not even give her the “dignity” of being sold to a new owner. While crouching over a trash heap, she observes a man taking food to Paul and Silas in prison. She follows him back to his house. She sleeps on his doorstep and is found the next morning by his wife. The girl tells the wife the whole story. They bring her into their home, share the gospel with her, and keep her as a valued employee (and spiritual equal) for the rest of her life.)

If we can imagine what might happen to a character who received 2 sentences in a historical record, surely we can imagine greater things for real people all around us. If we can imagine great things, we can, with the help of the Spirit, act to make our imaginings, reality. 

The gospel, the good news, of the story we heard today is actually that no one is disposable to God. Not a jailer who serves the Romans, not other prisoners who may have committed real crimes, not even a slave girl who annoys the Great Apostle. Not one life is disposable to God. We are to remember that for ourselves and for those around us.

Thinking about the people on the fringes draws our eyes and attention to where Jesus stands in the fringes of our society and our world.

In our city, people sleep on the couches of friends and family because we have a very low availability rate for affordable housing. We don’t see them.

In our state, we have the second highest incest rate in the nation. This is not about culture; it’s about failure to draw lines. We don’t see it.

In our country, a person of color who commits a crime with a white victim is much, much more likely to get the death penalty than a white person who commits the same crime (regardless of the victim’s race). We don’t see them.

In our world, hundreds of millions of girls die every year because they are considered not worth the effort to keep them alive. We don’t see them.

I realize this seems like a downer of a sermon, but a failure on my part to speak these truths out loud means that I have contributed to these stories, these people, these facts, these children who have mothers… I have made them disposable because it is not comforting, uplifting, or amusing to talk about them. I cannot do that. The gospel will not let me.

What can you do? You can pray for the girls on your paper and for those who are unnamed. (Only the names of the Christian girls have been released.) You can talk with friends and neighbors about what you think a safe intervention would be. You (and we) can look for charities that support the education of girls and women and give them solid backing. We can sing hymns and pray and refuse to accept that a culture that seems loud and powerful determines the worth of people. No child of God, born into this world, has a two-sentence life. No one is disposable. Let anyone who sees you know that you are servant of the Most High God, that you proclaim a way of salvation, and that you see them- just as you yourselves have been seen, forgiven, and loved. Amen.

Deborah Abge                         Awa Abge

Hauwa Yirma                           Asabe Manu 

Mwa Malam Pogu                  Patiant Dzakwa

Saraya Mal Stover                  Mary Dauda

Gloria Mainta                           Hanatu Ishaku

Gloria Dama                            Tabitha Pogu

Maifa Dama                           Ruth Kollo

Esther Usman                           Awa James

Anthonia Yahonna                  Kume Mutah

Aisha Ezekial                           Nguba Buba

Kwanta Simon                   Kummai Aboku

Esther Markus                           Hana Stephen

Rifkatu Amos                           Rebecca Mallum

Blessing Abana                  Ladi Wadai        

Tabitha Hyelampa                  Ruth Ngladar

Safiya Abdu                           Na’omi Yahonna

Solomi Titus                           Rhoda John

Rebecca Kabu                           Christy Yahi

Rebecca Luka                           Laraba John

Saratu Markus                           Mary Usman

Debora Yahonna                  Naomi Zakaria

Hanatu Musa                            Hauwa Tella

Juliana Yakubu                  Suzana Yakubu

Saraya Paul                           Jummai Paul

Mary Sule                           Jummai John                 

Yanke Shittima                  Muli Waligam

Fatima Tabji                           Eli Joseph

Saratu Emmanuel                  Deborah Peter

Rahila Bitrus                           Luggwa Sanda

Kauna Lalai                           Lydia Emmar

Laraba Maman                  Hauwa Isuwa

Comfort Habila                  Hauwa Abdu

Hauwa Balti                           Yana Joshua

Laraba Paul                           Saraya Amos        

Glory Yaga                           Na’omi Bitrus

Godiya Bitrus                            Awa Bitrus

Na’omi Luka                              Maryamu Lawan

Tabitha Silas                           Mary Yahona

Ladi Joel                                    Rejoice Sanki

Luggwa Samuel                      Comfort Amos

Saraya Samuel                           Sicker Abdul

Talata Daniel                              Rejoice Musa

Deborah Abari                           Salomi Pogu

Mary Amor                               Ruth Joshua

Esther John                              Esther Ayuba

Maryamu Yakubu                  Zara Ishaku

Maryamu Wavi                  Lydia Habila

Laraba Yahonna                  Na’omi Bitrus

Rahila Yahanna                  Ruth Lawan        

Ladi Paul                                    Mary Paul

Esther Joshua                           Helen Musa

Margret Watsai                  Deborah Jafaru

Filo Dauda                           Febi Haruna

Ruth Ishaku                           Racheal Nkeki

Rifkatu Soloman                  Mairama Yahaya

Saratu Dauda                           Jinkai Yama

Margret Shettima                  Yana Yidau

Grace Paul                           Amina Ali

Palmata Musa                           Awagana Musa

Pindar Nuhu                           Yana Pogu

Saraya Musa                           Hauwa Joseph

Hauwa Kwakwi                  Hauwa Musa

Maryamu Musa                  Maimuna Usman

Rebeca Joseph                           Liyatu Habitu

Rifkatu Yakubu                  Naomi Philimon

Deborah Abbas                  Ladi Ibrahim

Asabe Ali                                    Maryamu Bulama

Ruth Amos                           Mary Ali

Abigail Bukar                           Deborah Amos

Saraya Yanga                           Kauna Luka

Christiana Bitrus                  Yana Bukar

Hauwa Peter                            Hadiza Yakubu

Lydia Simon                           Ruth Bitrus

Mary Yakubu                           Lugwa Mutah

Muwa Daniel                           Hanatu Nuhu

Monica Enoch                           Margret Yama

Docas Yakuba                           Rhoda Peter

Rifkatu Galang                           Saratu Ayuba

Naomi Adamu                           Hauwa Ishaya

Rahap Ibrahim                  Deborah Soloman

Hauwa Mutah                             Hauwa Takai

Serah Samuel                           Aishatu Musa

Aishatu Grema                  Hauwa Nkeki

Hamsatu Abubakar                  Mairama Abubakar

Hauwa Wule                           Ihyi Abdu

Hasana Adamu                  Rakiya Kwamtah

Halima Gamba                  Aisha Lawan

Kabu Malla                           Yayi Abana

Falta Lawan                           Kwadugu Manu